Anyway, as I was saying, Newt stuck with the crap about poor children not having a strong sense of work ethic, like middle class kids do. Hmmm, lets hear Newt tell that to the sisters of Jorelys Rivera, whose mother was working nights cleaning out chicken guts so that her girls could have a cushy entitled life.

Entitlements were also a big topic last night, of course the quack who brought that up is the same idiot who wanted to bet $10,000 bucks. Uh, Mitt $10,000 is half of what the US Federal Government considers the poverty level for a single person. Yes, $20,147 annual salary is the official amount that is required according to US WIC/SNAP Income Eligibility Guidelines to be able to qualify for government assistance.

A 6.5-magnitude earthquake struck in Mexico’s western Guerrero state Saturday night, shaking buildings and causing panic in the nation’s capital and the Pacific resort of Acapulco. Officials said at least three people died, but there were no reports of widespread damage.

The U.S. Geological Service initially estimated the quake at magnitude at 6.8, but downgraded it to 6.7 and then 6.5. A quake of that magnitude is capable of causing severe damage, although the depth of this temblor lessened its impact.

The earthquake originated over 40 miles beneath the earth’s surface, experts say that the damage would have been more extreme had the depth not been as great.

When he rejected a new European accord on Friday that would bind the Continent ever closer, Prime Minister David Cameron seemingly sacrificed Britain’s place in Europe to preserve the pre-eminence of the City, London’s financial district. The question now is whether his stance will someday seem justified, even prescient.

Cameron refused to go along with the new European plan of stricter fiscal oversight and discipline hammered out in Brussels this week, in great part because of fears that the City would be strangled by regulations emanating from Brussels. He evidently felt he had little choice, and given the virulence of the anti-Europe sentiment in his own Conservative Party, few were inclined to argue that point.

“I said if I couldn’t get adequate safeguards for Britain in a new European treaty, I wouldn’t agree to it,” Cameron said in a news conference. “What is on offer isn’t in Britain’s interests, so I didn’t agree to it.”

This action brings about a lot of questions about Cameron’s strategy in dealing with European economic crisis.

The summit was “a disaster for the U.K.,” Charles Grant, director of the Center for European Reform, a pro-European research group here, said in a statement. “For more than 50 years, a fundamental principle of Britain’s foreign policy has been to be present when EU bodies take decisions, so that it can influence the outcome.” What should really worry London now, Grant said, is that it no longer has a seat at the negotiating table.

In the past, said Olaf Cramme, director of the Policy Network, a left-leaning research group in London, Britain has never lost a single European vote regarding financial service regulations. But since it has “taken itself out of these preparatory negotiations, even as others move closer together,” he said, it is likely to find it much more difficult to get its way.

It was clear after a marathon session Thursday that Cameron had alienated his Continental counterparts. Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, told reporters, “I really don’t believe David Cameron was ever with us at the table.” Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, at one point snubbed Cameron in a hallway, refusing to shake his hand.

Prime Minister David Cameron’s rejection of a landmark accord to quell Europe’s debt crisis was generating cracks in his cabinet on Sunday, sparking sharp criticism from the junior partners in his ruling coalition, the Liberal Democrats.Cameron, a Conservative euro-skeptic, on Friday made Britain the only nation among the 27-country European Union to reject a summit pact aimed at shoring up the foundations of the euro through a new treaty spelling out, among other things, binding caps on government spending and borrowing.

Cameron’s move brought an extraordinarily scathing reaction from his deputy prime minister, Nick Clegg, who on Sunday bluntly said he was “bitterly disappointed” in Cameron’s decision. He added the move could now isolate Britain in Europe, and threatened to make it a “pygmy in the world.”

“This is bad for Britain,” Clegg said in a lengthy BBC interview on Sunday. “Euro-skeptics should be careful what they wish for.” He added that Britain was now close to becoming a nation “hovering somewhere in the mid Atlantic and not being taken seriously in Europe.”

Iran will not return a U.S. surveillance drone captured by its armed forces, a senior commander of the country’s elite Revolutionary Guard said Sunday.

Gen. Hossein Salami, deputy head of the Guard, said in remarks broadcast on state television that the violation of Iran’s airspace by the U.S. drone was a “hostile act” and warned of a “bigger” response. He did not elaborate on what Tehran might do.

“No one returns the symbol of aggression to the party that sought secret and vital intelligence related to the national security of a country,” Salami said.

Iran’s confidence level has been brought up by the drone’s capture, Iran says EU definitely will not impose oil sanctions | Reuters They point to the EU’s desire not to effect the global crude market…but I wouldn’t be surprised if this drone business makes Iran a little more snotty in their stance against tougher sanctions.

Iran said on Sunday the European Union “definitely” will not impose sanctions on the country’s oil exports as the measure will harm the global crude market, the Oil Minister Rostam Qasemi said.

“Our policy is sustainable supply of oil to Europe … Iran is a major oil producer and any sanctions on our oil export will definitely harm the global market,” Qasemi told a news conference.

EU leaders called on Friday for more sanctions against Iran by the end of January, in an effort to increase pressure on Tehran over its disputed nuclear programme.

It’s the largest murder investigation ever on New York’s Long Island — 10 people slain and strewn along a remote beach highway over 15 years, possibly all victims of the same serial killer. But it’s not the first time the New York suburbs have been in the national spotlight for its homicides.

Back in 1974, Ronald DeFeo killed his parents and four siblings in the “Amityville Horror” murders. Colin Ferguson opened fire on a commuter train in 1993, killing six and wounding 19. And this year on Father’s Day, four people were executed in a pharmacy robbery in Medford.

Then there are serial killers Joel Rifkin and Robert Schulman. Most of their victims were prostitutes; 17 for Rifkin and five for Schulman, back in the 1990s.

Give that article a read, I believe Boston Boomer is planning to write a more detailed updated post on this case…I hope she does because her earlier posts on these murders was truly fascinating. (And heartbreaking…)

What is the origin and essence of fashion? This question has engaged scholars of various disciplines over the past decades, most of whom approach this subject with a Western or European focus. This paper argues instead that Asia was also pivotal in the articulation of the fashion system in Europe. The long interaction between these regions of the world initiated profound changes that included the iteration of the early modern fashion system. Silk and later printed cotton textiles are uniquely important in world history as agents of new consumer tastes, and the embodiment of fashion in Europe. Particular attention is given to the process of the Europeanization of Asian textiles, and the consideration of the intellectual, commercial and aesthetic relationship between Europe and Asia, as the European printed industry developed. Fashion was not just created through the adoption and use of Asian goods, but it was also shaped by a culture in which print was central; and it was the printing of information – visual, as well as literate – along with printing as a productive process, which produced a type of fashionability that could be ‘read’.

“Darshan” is a Sanskrit term meaning sight, in the Hindu sense of beholding a deity and making an immediate spiritual connection. Overwhelmingly in India, Hindu gods and goddesses are rendered in paintings or sculpted from stone and clay.

Manjari Sharma believes that a photograph can spark that same spiritual experience.

Ms. Sharma is currently working on the series “Darshan,” in which she has enlisted three dozen craftsmen and artisans to painstakingly recreate Hindu iconography and mythology with elaborate sets, detailed costumes, Bollywood-level prosthetics and custom props.

Roberto Farruggio

“It’s a very serious thing to make something worship-able,” said Ms. Sharma, 31, who is based in Brooklyn.

Enjoy that link, Sharma’s photography is something to see…

That is it for me today, sorry about being a bit tardy this morning! Y’all have a wonderful day and be sure to post some links to things you are reading and blogging about this Sunday Morning…

Could it get anymore depressing than to wake up and discover that Newt Gingrich has been “awarded” the win in last night’s debate. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t like any of the others, but Newt for the win? What’s wrong with this picture?

On the heels of describing Palestinians as “invented” thus spurring on more foment in the Middle East, this idiot is branded the “new Front Runner” while comparing middle class kids to poor ones by suggesting that privileged kids know how to work! Are you kidding me? I can’t find one able bodied kid in my neighborhood to mow my lawn or shovel my snow because they are inside playing with their XBox!

How is it that Newt can go unassailed for the monies he took from Freddie and Fannie? Why isn’t this a major factor as he slithers around by insisting he was nothing be a “historian”?

Maria Bartoloma was the only moderator who went “head to head” with that lying sack of crapola but most of the others tip toe around him.

What’s wrong with people who would stand in line to vote for this man who has no moral compass while feeding into his grandiosity? Unfathomable.

It is utterly depressing. It also really pisses me off that all those damn tea party asses, who hate DC, are his biggest boosters. Just goes to prove beyond all doubt they really are a Koch brothers front group. That’s if you were silly enough to need more proof.

Faith-based lunacy. I no longer wonder how Hitler or Stalin came to be. It is being reenacted in the xenophobia and the hate present in so many ignorant Americans right now. Did you see Lowe’s hot pressured into pulling their TV ads for the TV program on American Muslims? We have a huge number of ignorant and hateful jerks putting pressure on our institutions right now. I wouldn’t vote for a republican right now for any reason. That party needs to reform itself. They have been overrun by insane people.

Anyway, the companies who pulled their ads include Lowe’s, Bank of America, the Campbell Soup Co., Dell, Estee Lauder, General Motors, Goodyear, Green Mountain Coffee, McDonalds, Sears, and Wal-Mart. So many don’t give your money to those companies this holiday season? Or call Lowe’s CEO Robert Niblock at (704) 758-2084 or Executive Support Mr. Andrew Kilby at (866) 900-4650 and let them know what you think about this decision (keep it respectful, please).

The dislike against Obama is out there: the poll numbers attest to this.

But considering any nominee from the GOP side as worthy to replace him is insane.

These people are preaching an agenda that would cause more harm than good. And I am not defending Obama at all, merely pointing out the obvious.

This crowd is determined to protect the wealthiest among us against the majority and are more than willing to bring back the hated neocons to advise on foreign affairs which alone should be enough to take off the blinders.

Obama has given me little to defend but these people offer a plethora of reasons to consider the consequences of turning this nation back into the hands if the GOP.

That is where I am at too. I am not going to happily vote for obama but I will be damned if I will do anything to usher in another 8 years of bush or worse. Gingrich is more responsible than any one else for the collapse of the legislative branch into partisan nastiness and naked self dealing.

I’ve said for quite some time that Obama-hate is not enough when it comes to the 2012 elections. It’s become a distraction so that the ‘anyone but Obama’ meme could take hold. The GOPs lineup reflects just that, particularly the Eye of the Newt surge that we’re witnessing with horror. My husband watched a few moments of the debate last night. He’s voted for both Republicans and Democrats in the past, has no time for Obama but after listening to Gingrich wax eloquent over child labor laws, said: ‘They run that maniac, I’ll be forced to vote for Obama.”

I’m beginning to wonder if the GOP truly wants to win in 2012. Why bother? They have Obama who bends at will.

Btw, tomorrow Occupy will attempt a major protest on the West Coast. The goal? Closing the ports from Seattle to San Diego in the way the Oakland port was shut down in early November. The Longshoremen are not on board with the protest, so this is bucking a large union. However Alternet has a really informative post on the plight of port truckers and the news [for me at least] that Goldman Sachs in the major financial mover and shaker behind these ports. So, this is more than protesting cheap foreign goods at the expense of American workers but protesting the shrinkage of worker’s rights and wage in transportation services. Interesting writeup here:

I swear these people won’t be happy until we bring back tenement farms, poor farms and debtor’s prisons. If Newt thinks it’s a sin to be lazy as a kid he should try hanging out with the likes of Paris Hilton who hasn’t and will never do a day’s work in her life.

A few years back we heard the cry “I will only vote for women candidates” and were served up with the likes of Sharron Angle, Jan Brewer, Christine O’Donnell with a rallying cry for Quiterella to join the race. This simplistic slogan was advanced regardless of the platform advocated by these women and their ignorance to tackle complex issues.

The same holds true with those whose hatred toward Obama finds them defending GOPers who would “privatize spit” if given the opportunity and elimate departments of regulation to “appease” the monied class against the will of the American public by calling it “job creation”.

The GOP is intent on doing away with all social safety nets, alowing the middle class to all but disappear, harnessing women’s rights, and threatening war with another mideast country. Shame on those who buy into this agenda since it will most likely affect their way of life as well.

I have no love for Obama and find it difficult to defend him but taking this 180* turn into the waiting arms of the GOP is more than insulting to those of us who still believe in upholding civil rights and working for the common good.

This is not what the current GOP has in mind. I am also almost to the point that if the GOP had Jerry Sandusky as the “front runner” there would be those who would find something “admirable” in him as long as it would lead to OBama’s defeat.

You were very daring to put off writing your post till this morning, but it ended u being a terrific roundup. Lot’s of stories I hadn’t seen yet. Thank you for all your hard work!!

I hope that Mexico earthquake isn’t a precursor to a worse one. I wasn’t working on the LI serial killer, but I will now. I’ll see what I can learn today. After I heard the police chief was forced out, and that his investigators didn’t agree that this is definitely one serial killer, I have been waiting for more info. I’ll see if I can find a link to that story anyway.

I guesss the police commissioner, Richard Dormer didn’t get fired–that was rumor, but it was reported all over. The biggest recent news is that Shannon Gilbert’s belongings were found in the past few days. She is the woman who disappeared after running away from a client’s house, saying he and another man were trying to kill her. That is what sparked the entire investigation, but the police don’t believe she is a victim of a serial killer. They think she somehow fell into the water, I guess. I still think that guy that she ran from is hinky, but we’ll see.

Yes, a man had Gilbert visit his house to render him sex services as a prostitute and she apparently fled in a fright, then her clothing was found near the water. Sure, she stopped to take off her clothes while fleeing in fear, then “fell” into the water. That and the fact that another eight bodies of prostitutes were found in the area, and the guy whose house Gilbert was at, who habitually has prostitutes visit his house, “isn’t a suspect”? Give me a break!

Britain’s hard-pressed manufacturers have expressed growing unease that the financial sector was defended in Europe by David Cameron at the expense of Britain’s industrial interests.

Steelmakers fear the UK could lose its “leadership” position on issues such as deregulation and competitiveness, while other manufacturers fear a growing isolatrion from a key market.

“In the short term it should make no difference as all the [EU] structures are in place, but across [the] longer term … we are going to become less relevant in political decision-making,” said Ian Rodgers, director of the trade body UK Steel.

The domestic metals industry is dominated by foreign firms such as Tata, of India, and Celsa, from Spain, which would have made their investments in Britain on the basis that the UK was a key part of the European community, Rodgers added.

I can’t believe he can say that about consumer protection but then fully support “homeland” security. Which one looks most Stalinist to you? The USSR didn’t even recognize the idea of consumers or most financial institutions for that matter but they sure loved them some domestic spying.

Graham probably decided he had to be some kind of right wing freak job to keep getting elected in South Carolina, so he’s all in now. A couple of years ago his polls looked bad at home because he was too “moderate” for the loons.

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The Sky Dancing banner headline uses a snippet from a work by artist Tashi Mannox called 'Rainbow Study'. The work is described as a" study of typical Tibetan rainbow clouds, that feature in Thanka painting, temple decoration and silk brocades". dakinikat was immediately drawn to the image when trying to find stylized Tibetan Clouds to represent Sky Dancing. It is probably because Tashi's practice is similar to her own. His updated take on the clouds that fill the collection of traditional thankas is quite special.

You can find his work at his website by clicking on his logo below. He is also a calligraphy artist that uses important vajrayana syllables. We encourage you to visit his on line studio.